07/10/2012

Last weekend while the wick was being lit in Pamplona for San Fermin, Elko NV, celebrated its annuak National Basque festival. This event is well known in the US since Basques in Elko also organize a "Pamplona style" running from the bulls. This year’s festival was hold together with NABO’s annual convention and there were delegates from Basque clubs from all over the US and Canada in Elko to work and celebrate. Along with them was a delegation from the Basque Government that included the Director of Relations with Basque Collectivities Abroad, Julian Celaya and the Vice-Minister of Linguistic Policy Lourdes Auzmendi.
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07/10/2012

Two main events took place this year at Eusko Etxea of San Juan to celebrate Saint John, one for members and friends and the other for the community at large. In fact, it was the youth from the neighborhood El Vivero in Santa Lucia who was in charge of the traditional bonfire. The Basque club used this event as a way to open its doors to the community as related by its members, “The goal is to integrate and interrelate the center to the community.” Looking ahead, the club is also organizing a Saint Ignatius event and although subject to confirmation they hope to include a performance by Basque cellist Iñaki Etxepare in late August.
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07/09/2012

A delegation from Gipuzkoa’s Provincial Government, led by the Deputy General Martin Garitano, will begin a three-day trade mission today in Uruguay. There are around twenty small and medium sized businesses participating in the trip from Gipuzkoa that are hoping to make contacts and explore business possibilities in the South American country. Uruguay has a large Basque colony and it so happens that current leaders of the country are of Basque origin; among them is President, Jose Mujica.
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07/05/2012

Elko native, Mateo Franzoia, will be joining ETB’s program “Yes, we jai!” this weekend, a program that will take you through the festivals in the Basque Country to soak up the atmosphere, and show it to the Basques through the eyes of a Basque from the Diaspora. Mateo is a member of a well-known family in his local Basque community in Elko, NV. His mother, Anita Anacabe, is a Basque teacher at the local Basque club as well as long-time NABO delegate. Elko’s Basque club will be celebrating San Fermin this weekend – famous for its encierros with real bulls, but Mateo will be experiencing the real thing in Iruña and Lesaka.
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07/03/2012

The Official Bulletin of the Basque Country has published the Resolution that details grants awarded to Basque clubs and associations in 2012 reflecting aid for current expenditures, and activity organization (Chapt. IV); and expenses incurred for infrastructure and equipment (Chapter VII). The budget associated with the first concept is 934,667 Euros while that of the second is 300,000 Euros. We are providing the detail below of grant recipients and award amounts that include Basque entities in Germany (1), Argentina (34), Belgium (1), Canada (2), Chile (3), Colombia (2), Spain (7), France (3), Mexico (1), Paraguay (1), Peru (1), UK (1), Uruguay (6), US (10),) and Venezuela (2) as well as those entities who have been chosen as alternates.
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07/03/2012

Since May 29 the Basque group Kalakan is touring the world with Madonna who they accompany on her MDNA World tour. The three members of the group from Lapurdi play the txalaparta and sing in various parts of the show where Madonna even wears a beret and sings with them in Basque. As Xan Errotabehere explains to EuskalKultura.com the group was getting ready for a tour of several Basque clubs when they received the call from Madonna. For now they are enjoying performing Basque music in front of thousands of people around the world, and when this adventure ends, they assure us that they are eager to resume their previous project and visit the euskal etxeak.
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07/02/2012

As every year, the Euskal Etxea in Bordeaux celebrated its Music Day Festival on June 21 with a complete program of activities. The event took place at the Basque Plaza and throughout the afternoon/evening gathered numerous center members and music fans. The festival began with dance performances by groups like Bildu and Biltzarra, with music by Etxeko Soinuak and songs provided by the Etxekoak choir. To end on a more modern note, there was a rock concert by the group Holako from Ainize-Monjolose.
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06/28/2012

The Basque Country based Elhuyar Foundation has just put an application for Smartphones on sale that allows users to learn basic notions of the Basque language and a vocabulary of up to 2,000 words, enough to handle most common situations. The app. Is called Kxo! and is available for IPhones and Androids, for 3 euros (approximately $3.75). It can be downloaded from anywhere in the world and used in Spanish, English or French.
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06/28/2012

Boise’s Oinkari Basque dancers worked tirelessly on June 16 so that its second annual Sagardotegi (is the Basque word for cider plce) would turn out perfectly. The bar had been set high, after last year’s dinner, but this one was a complete success as well, thanks to the Oinkaris’ enthusiasm and hard work. The event gathered 100 people and the atmosphere was familiar and pleasant as explained to EuskalKultura.com by Oinkari president, Lael Uberuaga. All proceeds were shared by the Oinkari Basque Dancers and the Basque Studies Program at Boise State University.
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06/27/2012

Hagio Sho is a director of the Euskal Etxea in Tokyo and a very enthusiastic researcher on Basque culture. He speaks the language and has a good knowledge of the country and the culture. Last May Sho published a book that he hopes will banish misconceptions and expand the view on Basque society. It's a work written together with Hiromi Yoshida and it delves into the reality of Euskal Herria and its culture through 50 chapters. Sho assures that there are concepts that Japanese culture understands very well, like the “void,” essential in works by Oteiza and Chillida, that the Japanese identify with Taoism, or Zen thought. The book, written in Japanese, proposes rules for writing Basque words in the Japanese alphabet.
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